Spoon holder for saucepans



July 4, 1939. G. K. FORBES SPOON HOLDER FOR SAUCEPANS Filed Feb. 9, 1958j} JV WWL'M.)

Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

SPOON HOLDER FOR SAUCEPANS Gertrude K. Forbes, Pasadena, Calif.

Application February 9, 1938, Serial No. 189,485

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a spoon holder of the type adapted forattachment to pans or culinary vessels in which the handle of a spoonmay be wedged and secured between contiguous wires or metal bands or theequivalent so that the spoon may be positioned to drip into the vesseland the handle being positioned outside of the vessel. In a number ofthese spoon holders patented and on the market, there is not sufficientstiffness and rigidity to the wires or metal strips to prop erly holdthe handle of the spoon and moreover there is not sufficient attachmentof the wires to a clamp which engages the side of the vessel to maintainthe wires always in a position to readily receive and to hold a spoon.

An object and feature of my invention involves the combinationalstructure and attachment of a spring clamp to engage the wall and overthe edge of a culinary vessel with a resilient and spring wire assemblyutilized to grip and engage the handle of a spoon. A further feature ofmy invention is forming the wire spoon engaging element in the manner ofa helical coil of spring wire, each convolution of which is threadedthrough perforations in the clamp and the two opposite ends of the coilare bent or distorted to prevent unthreading. A further feature of myinvention is in making the clamp with inner and outer jaws with areverse bend at the top. The perforations are thus through the upperportion of both the inner and outer jaws, such perforations beingsubstantially aligned. The helical coil of wire when threaded throughthe aligned perforations develops a spaced contact i. and support forthe lower portion of each convolution of wire. This therefore develops arelatively stiff construction so that the wires do not wobble and arenot readily displaced from their correct position. A furthercharacteristic of my invention is having the perforations located closertogether than the natural position of the uncompressed helical spring.Therefore the upper portions of the convolutions tend to spread apartdue to the natural resiliency of the spring pressing spaces to readilyinsert the handle of the spoon. Another detail feature of my inventionis forming the clamp with the outer jaw with an outwardly bent portionadapted to engage over the bead on culinary vessels using a bead andalso to form a stop when the device is used on vessels with extra thickwalls.

My invention is illustrated in connection with the accompanying drawing,in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my holder at J tached to a culinaryvessel.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation taken in the direction of the arrow 2 of Fig.3.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation taken in the direction of the arrow 3 of Fig.2.

Fig. 4 is an elevation similar to Fig.2 showing a different shape ofclamp.

In my invention I employ a clamp ll formed. of a strip or strap ofresilient sheet metal. This may be considered as having a substantiallystraight inner jaw l2 with a slight inward flare 13 adjacent the tipend. The outer jaw M has an inwardly extending convex curve l5 adjacentits upper end, a pronounced internal concave curve It followed by asharp convex curve ii, the tip end l8 flaring outwardly. These jaws areconnected by the integral reverse bend ii? at the top.

The coil spring assembly requires a series of substantially alignedperforations 26 and Zl in the upper part of the inner and outer jawsadjacent the reverse bend ill. The helically coiled spring 28 has thelower portion of its convolutions 29 threaded through these alignedperforations. The end convolutions 3i and 3! have the ends of the springwith an angular bend indicated at 32 and 33 or these ends may be upsetif desired 3 to prevent them pulling out of the perforations. By thisconstruction the individual convolutions of the spring assembly are heldin a correct spaced position on the clamp structure, the perforationshowever being sufficiently large to allow a slight 31') angular movementto the convolutions. The convolutions are spaced apart at the top andsides as indicated by the numeral 3 3 and may thus be used to readilysupport a spoon or other utensil indicated by the numeral Alt of Fig. 1,the bowl 35 ll of the spoon being located inside of the line of the wallof the utensil, the handle portion 42 being engaged by the spring andthe finger grip end 43 located outside of the wall of the utensil. Thisfinger grip end is thus maintained cool and the spoon may be tilted sothat material will drip off the spoon back into the vessel. While thedevice is only intended to support one spoon or similar article, at atime, it will be obvious that a number of such articles could besupported de- 45 pending on the number of convolutions to the helicalspring.

In Fig. 4. I illustrate a different type of clamp 45 in which the innerjaw MS has a reverse concave and convex curvature considered on its in 0side surface indicated at 4? and 48. The outer jaw 49 has an insideconvex curve 56 at the top,

a somewhat pronounced concave curve 5i and a sharp convex curve 52. Bothjaws have outwardly flared ends. The reverse bend 53 at the top hasperforations similar to the construction of Figs. 2 and 3 with theconvolutions of the wire threaded therethrough. In this construction theconvex curved portions 48 and 52 of the jaws are quite close together,therefore when the clamp is fitted over a vessel the inner jaw forms anarch and therefore develops an increased spring pressure on the edge ofthe utensil. For some types of vessels this gives a better grip than thetype of jaw of Fig. 2 having the straight inner jaw 12. It is advisablein both types of the jaw construction to have several nubs 55 pressedinwardly on the inner jaw. This gives a point contact with the vessel onwhich the spoon holder is mounted.

Various changes may be made in the details of the construction withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device as described a clamp formed of a strap of resilient metalhaving an inner and an outer jaw connected by a reverse bend, aplurality of aligned perforations to the strap adjacent the reversebend, a helical wire coil having the lower parts of its convolutionsthreaded each through a pair of aligned perforations and means on theends of the wire to restrain unthreading.

2. In a device as described and claimed in claim 1, the convolutionshaving a relatively loose fit at the perforations to permit an angularpivoting of a pair of adjacent convolutions at the portion connected tothe clamp.

3. In a device as described, a clamp having inner and outer jawportions, each portion at its upper part having a set of perforations insubstantially a straight line, the perforations on the opposite jawsbeing approximately in alignment, a helical wire coil having the lowerparts of its convolutions threaded each through a pair of alignedperforations, the end portions of wire being threaded through at leastone perforation with means to restrain the unthreading of such endportions, the convolutions having a relatively loose fit at theperforations to permit an angular pivoting of a pair of adjacentconvolutions to permit an angular pivoting of a pair of adjacentconvolutions at the portion connected to the jaws of the clamp.

GERTRUDE K. FORBES.

